Combined fire escape and flower box and the like



Oct. 3, 1967 J. BOSCARINO, JR 3,344,836

COMBINED FIRE ESCAPE AND FLOWER BOX AND THE LIKE Filed April 8, 1965 m T N E V m United States Patent M 3,344,886 COMBINED FIRE ESCAPE AND FLOWER BOX AND THE LIKE Joseph Boscarino, Jr., Flushing, N.Y. Combined Crafts, Inc., 473 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10012) Filed Apr. 8, 1965, Ser. No. 446,631 6 Claims. (Cl. 182-70) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A combined fire escape and flower box including an elongated hollow window box structure detachably mounted on a channel-shaped device on the side wall of a house. An extensible ladder in collapsed condition is inside the box structure, one end of the ladder connected to the channel-shaped device and the other end of the latter attached to the box structure.

This invention relates generally to fire escapes and more particularly to a combined fire escape and flower box.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide a fire escape ladder on the outside of a house concealed from view by a flower box.

Another object is to provide a flower box structure adapted to be mounted near the window of a house and adapted to be readily converted into a fire escape.

A further object of the invention is to provide a flower box structure that supports flowers for decorative purposes and also houses an extensible fire ladder, the box structure and ladder being readily moved to operative position.

For further comprehension of the invention and of the advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which the various novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a window box dummy fire escape embodying the invention in position below a window sill.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on the plane of the line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of a fragment of a house with the dummy fire escape of FIG. 1 in distended operative position.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the connection between the bottom of the box and the lowermost rung of the ladder.

FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of the ladder support and a fragment of a modified form of ladder.

Referring now in detail to the various views of the drawings, in FIG. 1 there is shown an elongated removable window box structure 10, concealing a collapsed folded extensible fire escape ladder 12.

The box structure includes a box body having a deep tapering front wall 14, bottom wall 16, end walls 18, 18 and being open at the rear as viewed in FIG. 1. A shallow box-shaped compartment 20 is formed in the top of the box structure by means of the front wall 14, false bottom 22 and a shallow rear wall 24, the com- 3,344,886 Patented Oct. 3, 1967 partment being open at the top. The compartment is lined with a metal lining 26. The compartment is adapted to hold soil 28 for the growing of plants 30.

The window box structure 10 and fire escape ladder '12 are supported in movable relation by a metal supporting assembly 32 shown in detail in FIG. 2. This assembly consists of an aluminum channel-shaped device 33 having parallel top and bottom walls 36 and 38, respectively, and a rear connecting wall 40. The long edges of the top and bottom walls are formed with curled outer long edges 42, 42. A bracket including a flat bar body 44 with end flanges 46, 46 is fastened to the inner surface of the rear connecting wall 40 by headed screws 48 that pass through aligned holes in the fiat bar body 44 and rear wall 40 and secure the assembly to the side of the house 50 below the window sill 16, as shown in FIG. 3. An elongated round tube 52 extends across the space between the flanges 46, 46 with its ends supported in holes in the flanges. The bracket is disposed midway the height of the channel-shaped device with its flanges 46, 46 extending toward the opening in the channel-shaped device.

The box structure 10 is detachably supported by the channel-shaped device 32 by means of an elongated sheet metal corrugated bearing plate 56 secured by screws 58 to the under surface of the false bottom 22 and by a similar plate 60 similarly fastened to the top surface of the bottom wall or base 16. The curled edges 42 of the top and bottom walls 36 and 38, respectively of the channelshaped device spring into the corrugations in the plates 56 and 60 releasably holding the box structure on the channel-shaped device 32.

The ladder 12 comprises a pair of spaced flexible nylon webbing 62, 62 supporting a plurality of spaced metal plate-like rungs or steps 64 therebetween in any suitable manner. The top ends 66 of the webbing are formed with holes 68 for passing the Webbing over the round rod 52, whereby the webbing and rungs are supported. The bottommost rung 64 is fastened to the bottom wall 16 by an elongated bearing member 70 channel-shaped in configuration supporting a round rod 72 in the base thereof, the ends of the rod extending outwardly of the bearing member and secured under straps 74 secured to the inner surface of the bottom wall 16 at its ends. The ends of the bottommost rung or step 64 is secured to the webbings 62 by a hinge joint including knuckles 78 on the ends of the rung and coacting knuckles 80 on the bottom ends of the webbing. A hinge pin 82 extends through the aligned knuckles.

In use, normally the window box structure 10 serves to hold the plants and flowers 30 in order to ornament the window. The ladder 12 is housed in the box structure 10 in collapsed folded condition as shown in FIG. 2, one end of the ladder being attached to the tube 52 and its other bottom end attached to the floor 16 of the box structure.

In an emergency, such as when a fire occurs in the house, the box structure 10 can be easily and quickly removed by manually pulling or pushing on the top of the box structure in order to slide it off of the curved end edges 42 of the channel-shaped device 32 whereupon the box structure will fall by gravity, sliding along the outer surface of the house to the ground, thereby extending and straightening out the ladder '12 to the position shown in FIG. 3. The ladder is supported in an upright position adjacent the house by means of the tube 52, as shown in FIG. 3 ready for use by persons in the house to escape to safety.

In FIG. 5, a modified form of ladder -12' is shown. The ladder 14 is shown attached at its top end to the metal supporting assembly 32' similar in construction of the supporting assembly 32 including a channel-shaped device having parallel top and bottom walls 36' and 38, respectively, and a rear connecting wall 40'. The long edges of the top and bottom Walls are formed with curled outer long edges 42', 42. A bracket including a flat bar body 44 with end flanges 46', 46' is fastened to the inner surface of the rear connecting wall 40 by headed screws 48' that pass through aligned holes in the flat bar body 44' and rear wall 40' and secure the assembly to the side of the house below the window sill 16. An elongated round rod 52 extends across the space between the flanges 46', 46 with its ends supported in holes in the flanges The bracket is disposed midway the height of the channel-shaped device with its flanges 46', 46' extending toward the opening in the channel-shaped device.

The extensible ladder 12 consists of an articulated body including a plurality of spaced rectangular-shaped metal horizontally disposed wide plates constituting rungs or steps 64' connected at their ends by pairs of vertically disposed aligned narrow metal straps constituting hinge leaves 84 and 86, the individual leaves being hingedly connected to the rungs and to each other. The connection between the rungs 64' and binge leaves 84 and 86 consists of knuckles 88 on the ends of the rungs coacting with knuckles 90 on the ends of the hinge leaves 84 and 86, hinge pins 92 extending through the aligned coacting knuckles. The pairs of hinge leaves are so arranged relative to the rungs that the pair on one end of the rung is offset from the pair on the other end, that is, one pair is connected to the rung at one end on the inner side of the rung and the other pair at the other end is connected to the outer side of the rung. The pairs of hinge leaves of the different rungs thus are disposed in alternate vertical planes. The knuckles of the hinge leaves and rungs are also so arranged that the hinge leaves swing inwardly into collapsed condition.

The topmost rung 64' is formed with upright perforated ears 96 for pivotally attaching the ladder to the ends of the rod 52'. The bottommost rung 64' is attached to the bottom wall 16 of the box structure in a manner similar to the bottommost rung 64 of FIG. 2.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise construction herein disclosed and that various changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with the side Wall of a house, a channel-shaped device secured to the outside of the wall and opening outwardly, an elongated hollow window box structure detachably mounted on said device and concealing the same, and an extensible ladder in collapsed condition inside the box structure, one end of the ladder being connected to the channel-shaped device, the other end of the ladder being attached to the box structure.

2. In combination with the side wall of a house, a channel-shaped device secured to the outside of the wall and opening outwardly, an elongated hollow window box structure detachably mounted on said device and concealing the same, and an extensible ladder in collapsed condition inside the box structure, one end of the ladder being connected to the channel-shaped device, the other end of the ladder being attached to the box structure, the connection between the channel-shaped device and one end of the ladder constituted by a flanged bracket and a tube extending between the flanges of the bracket, the

ends of the ladder being formed with holes to receive the tube.

3. In combination with the side wall of a house, a supporting assembly secured to the outside of the wall, said assembly including a channel-shaped device opening outwardly, a bracket with flanged ends supported on the device, the end flanges extending outwardly, an elongated tube supported by the end flanges therebetween, an elongated hollow window box structure detachably mounted on said device and concealing said assembly, said box structure having a compartment opening upwardly for growing plants, and an extensible ladder supported in folded condition in the box structure, said ladder having one end secured to the tube of the assembly, the other end of the ladder being secured to the box structure, said box structure adapted to be manually detached from the channel-shaped device and fall by gravity therefrom, carrying the ladder therealong.

4. In combination with the side wall of a house, a supporting assembly secured to the outside of the wall, said assembly including a channel-shaped device opening outwardly, a bracket with flanged ends supported on the device, the end flanges extending outwardly, an elongated tube supported by the end flanges therebetween, an elongated hollow window box structure detachably mounted on said device and concealing said assembly, said box structure having a compartment opening upwardly for growing plants, and an extensible ladder supported in folded condition in the box structure, said ladder including a pair of spaced flexible tapes, metal rungs spaced along between the tapes, one end of the tapes secured to the tube, the other end of the tapes secured to the box structure whereby upon detachment of the box structure from the device said box structure falls by gravity carrying the ladder therealong to open the rungs of the ladder.

5. In combination with the side wall of a house, a supporting assembly secured to the outside of the wall, said assembly including a channel-shaped device opening outwardly, a bracket with flanged ends supported on the device, the end flanges extending outwardly, an elongated rod supported by the end flanges therebetween, an elongated hollow window box structure detachably mounted on said device and concealing said assembly, said box structure having a compartment opening upwardly for growing plants, and an extensible ladder supported in folded condition in the box structure, said ladder ineluding a plurality of spaced rungs, hinge leaves interposed between the ends of the rungs and hingedly secured to said ends, perforated ears on one end rung connected to said elongated rod, a bearing member depending from the lowermost end rung, said bearing member being U- shaped in cross-section, an elongated rod supported in the base of said bearing member, and extending therebeyond, the extending ends of said rod secured to straps on the box structure, whereby upon detachment of the box structure from the device said box structure falls by gravity carrying the ladder therealong to open the rungs of the ladder.

6. In combination with the side wall of a house, a supporting assembly secured to the outside of the wall, said assembly including a pair of spaced brackets with flanged ends extending outwardly, a bracket with flanged ends supported on the pair of brackets, the end flanges extending outwardly and having holes therein, an elongated hollow window box structure detachably mounted on said device and concealing said assembly, said box structure having a compartment opening upwardly for growing plants, and an extensible ladder supported in folded condition in the box structure, said ladder including a plurality of spaced rungs, hinge leaves interposed between the ends of the rungs and hingedly secured to said ends, upstanding perforated ears on the topmost rung, the perforations in the ears being in alignment with the holes in the flanges of the bracket, eyes extending through the aligned perforations and holes, a bearing member depending from the lowermost end rung, said bearing member being U-shaped in cross-section, an elongated rod supported in the base of said bearing member, and extending therebeyond, the extending ends of said rod secured to straps on the box structure whereby upon detachment of the box structure from the pair of spaced brackets said box structure falls by gravity carrying the ladder therealong to open the rungs of the ladder.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Shaw 18276 Grafl 18270 Klipp 1827'6 Porter 18270 Thomsen 18270 Martin 18270 Bourdunis 1'8295 REINALDO P. MACHADO, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION WITH THE SIDE WALL OF A HOUSE, A CHANNEL-SHAPED DEVICE SECURED TO THE OUTSIDE OF THE WALL AND OPENING OUTWARDLY, AN ELONGATED HOLLOW WINDOW BOX STRUCTURE DETACHABLY MOUNTED ON SAID DEVICE AND CONCEALING THE SAME, AND AN EXTENSIBLE LADDER IN COLLAPSED CONDITION INSIDE THE BOX STRUCTURE, ONE END OF THE LADDER BEING CONNECTED TO THE CHANNEL-SHAPED DEVIVE, THE OTHER END OF THE LADDER BEING ATTACHED TO THE BOX STRUCTURE. 